A lot of times dieters will lose weight for a few weeks, then get stuck. You lose 15-17 pounds initially and then get stuck and don’t notice any weight loss for a few weeks or more. We've all seen it happen.

This is the body’s protective mechanism kicking in to help maintain your set point. It realizes what you are doing and tries to counteract this process. Your body will slow down your metabolism and do all sorts of things to stop this process. So what can you do to counteract?

Normally, just being patient is enough. Stick with your diet and ignore the lack of progress. You will eventually break through the plateau. Sometimes it may take a few weeks, sometimes it can take a month or more.

If you are in the first phase of the C3 Diet, a lot of the initial weight loss is due to dehydration and water loss. Two thirds of your weight loss in the first two weeks is water loss, not fat loss. After this stage, you are losing mostly fat (and some muscle). Realize this and move on. Stick with it and you will be rewarded!

But sometimes, you really are stuck in a plateau because of your new lower metabolism. Your new caloric requirement goes down, so you need to increase your metabolism or cut back on calories. You can wait it out, but if after a month you are still stuck, decrease your caloric intake and or start adding more exercise and weight training.

If you have been eating about 1700 calories, drop down to 1500 or 1400. If you aren't keeping track of calories, reduce your overall intake by about 10%. Eat a quarter of what you’d normally eat, not one third.

As your weight decreases, your caloric needs decrease as well, make sure you adjust and cut back. You no longer have the caloric requirement of a 240 pound person. You need to dial it down to what a 210 pound person should be eating to lose weight.